We stopped for a photo of the east end of the covered bridge in Bath, NH
In June, my wife and I began a 3-day bicycle trip on the Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trail. Our starting point the first morning was Littleton, NH on Industrial Park Road. We rode 19 miles on the Ammonoosuc Rail Trail to Woodsville, NH on the VT border. Since the trail follows the river, the route is very scenic, including three covered bridges.
Covered bridge and falls, Bath, NH. The rail trail passes under the west end of the bridge and provides an amazing vantage point.
The route follows the Ammonoosuc River closely, so river views are frequent.
When we came to this railroad bridge, it looked like a good place for lunch. We sat on the bridge abutment overlooking the river; a great place for a restful meal.
We parked one car at the end of our day’s journey in Woodsville, near the Bath-Haverhill covered bridge to enable a one-way, mostly downhill ride, so before riding, we had a preview of the scenery along Rt. 302 on the way to Littleton. We parked our second car at the trail head parking in Littleton, NH, near the ATV rental shop. This trail was open to ATVs so it’s best to ride it on a weekday and earlier in the day, when traffic is lighter. The trail surface was rough gravel, so a mountain bike or fat-tire bike was preferred. The online map estimate of our trip was under 2 hours, but with a stop for lunch we completed it in about 4 hours.
Purple and white phlox lined the trail.
Before we got to the covered bridge in Bath, we saw this house with a blue wooden-sided caboose for an annex. We talked for half an hour to the owner, a retired railroad employee who had owned the caboose and lived in it since he was in college at UNH.
Through the trees we could see the clock tower of the Lisbon town hall.
In Lisbon, we passed the depot, which has been nicely restored. Now all it needs is an ice cream shop!
-Rich Westhoff